Automatic stoppage and occupant-protecting equipment for automobiles.



W A. UTTZ. AUTOMATIC STOPPAGE AND 0CCUPANT PROTECTING EQUIPMENT FOR AUTOMOBILES.

1 APPLICATION FILED. JUNE l6, I917.

Patented Feb. 19. 1918.

3-SNEETS-SHEET I W. A. UTTZ. AUTOMATIC STOFPAGE AND OCGUPANI PROTECTIN'G EQUIPMENT FOR AUTOMOBILES.

Patented Feb. 19. 1918'.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 16, 1917.

. W. A UTTZ.

AUTOMAHC STOPPAGE AND OCCUPANT PROTiCTING EQUIPMENT FOR AUTOMOBILES.

APPLICATLQN FILEDv JUNE '6. 1917. I

1,256,848. Patented Feb. 19 1918.

3 SHEETS SHEET 3.

automobiles, and

' the'wind shield and occupants the car pige and UN TED STATES PA'JTENTI OFFICE. p

=wxnmnu A. Urrz, or muses orfcY, Mxssonni.

enhanc- STOPPAGE AND. oconrnnr-rno'rno'rme' EQUIPMENT :To all whom it may concerm.

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM A. Ur'rz, a citizen of the United States, residing at lien sas City, in the county of Jackson. and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and i'i'seful Improvements in -Auton1a-tic Stop- Occupant-Protecting Equipments for Automobiles, of which the following is a specification. i

This invention relates to automatic stowpageand "occupant protecting equipment .o) the primary object is to provide means actuated by repression of the front-bumper bar of a car, to open the tion circuit,"'apply' the brakes of car and effect the interposition of a curtain-between and settii'ig of additional curtains along" the sides ofthe earns a protection against f I I I 01 the like flying into the car as a iesuit oi ob ect 1s to provide means whereby the protecting curtains of I operate efficiently and reliably the side" of the car nearest the point of oollisioirshall be set in operative position in the ei'ent the'bumper bar isrepr'essed only at the end nearest such side;

Another object is to produce equipment Til.

the character specified above ovhpch c strong, durable and lllBXPGDSiyB construction, and. which can be easily and eeonenrh eally applied to any type of motor with out interfering witlrthc norniai an; nary manual control oi? the ef the eutomohile automatically operated through the .instrumentality ot the equipment.

With these objects in View. ti invention consists in certain novei and peculiaritietures of construction and combination c1: parts as hereinafter described and claimed; and in order that it may bc-tully understood r-eterence is to be to the accompanying drawings, in which: ;.,.-;{Figure I, is a side view, of a- ;n'oto'r ear provided. with equipment embodying the invention. i

Fig. 2, is a plan view of the ear with the bodyomitted and showing. only the parts directly afi'ected by. or in physicalconnection with the equipment. Fig. 3, is a'cross sectionon. anenlarged scale of the car showing the dash from the :inside. 1 o

Fig. his an enlarged plane-view of apart bfihe mechanism shown-by Fig. 3.

Eig. 5, ism-side .uieiuot the wind Specification of Letters Patent. i

ran AU romantics remit-ea Feb. 19 191$.

A ppiication filed June '16, 1917. Serial No. 175,538.

protecting equipment with the instrument board. in section.

ii, is a plan view of a partof-the construction shown by Fig. 5.

'7 and 8, are detail perspective views of parts oi? the invention.

Fig. 9-, is an edge viewot button operating mechanism.- I

Fig. 10, is an enlarged d tail View of a '2 ct one of the protecting devices.

Y 1L, is a side View of a modified con.- situation of part of the equipment.

Fig-l2 is a view of modification of an.- other pm of the equipment.

Referring now to the drawings, where like reference characters identify correspondin "parts in all oi the figures, l indicates the customary yieldingly advanced bumper 1 bar, 2 the push button ey which; the ignition circuit is broken, 3 the brakes, it the emergency the rock shaft 6, end 7 the rods connectin lr arms 8 of rock shaft c with the rec -2, for efiieeting the application of the brakes; p 10 indicates the wind shield and 11 the frame thereof. All of the parts abovereterrmjl to are common in motor oar-innstruction and are represented herein as thund in the Light Buick Six.

the ignition push v lever, 5 a rod-tor actuating To eit'ect' the automatic shutting down of the engine. emergency application of the iir'a i and ad ustment of curtains to protective ition. behind the windshield and at the sides of the car, certain mechanism (16- scribed' below is provided; attention bein called in this connection to the wnid' shield irot'ector Patent No; 1186865, ofJuneflEv, isle, of which the wind shield curtainiew tures of this applicationj 'represent merely structural. improvementsflnd refinements.

Slide-sly mounted in brackets d2, underflying and seoured'to I of the car, are rods 1A, the same 'extending alongside and outward of the frontsprings the running boards 13 I of the, car (not shown) and throuhg de I ainst fixed brackets .19, of the oar,,,nnd.ic o lars 20 on 'ar sup-' the hormonfthe .rod the said springs advancing. their rearward movement thereof shall respective bars to normal position the in.

staut the bumperbar returns to normal position. In this connection it will be noted that while the rods may be repressed simultaneously as explained, they are independently mounted and hence either one may be forced rearward independently of the other in the event only one end of the bumper bar is repressed. The rearward movement of either rod effects the breaking of the ignition circuit, application of the brakes and the setting of the protective curtains, as will hereinafter appear.

The rock shafts 9 are provided. with de pending arms 21, to which are pivotally attached the rear ends of extension 22 of rods l t, the extensions 22 having a pivotal pin and slot connection at 23 with the rear ends of said rods to accommodate the up and down movements of the car frame, incidental to the passage of the wheels over irre r'u il' surfaces of the road. In this connection t will be noted that the backward thrust of the rods against the depending arms 31, will effect the application of the bake, and through the standard connectlwIlr hereinbefore enumerated, will swing he emergency lever rearward exactly as though thrown by hand, it being noted in this connection that the lever is free for manual operation when desired, as the thrust rods are nOtrigidly connected to the bumper bar. When the lever'is returned to normal position to release the brakes, the thrust rods are automatically readvanced, by their respective springs 18.

Extending through slots 22 in the floor and near each side of the car forward of the fore doors thereof, is. a pair of levers 23, fulcrumed on brackets 24: secured to the car and pivoted at their lower ends to the respective thrust rods. The upper ends of the levershave pin and slot connections with horizontal bell cranks 25 mounted on brackets 26 secured to the ear, and said bell cranks re pivotally connected by links 27 to the wer end of a lever 28 pivoted at- 29 to the instrument board, and the upper end of sa id lever is pivotally connected to a horizontal transversely extending bolt 30 mounted in --oitable guides and provided at its front side with a cam 31, and its left end is held normally extending through a bifurcated bracket 32 for -a purpose which hereinafter appears, by a. retraetile spring 33. The cam at such time. i.-- to the left of a vertical plate 31 connected to the ignition push button 2, said plate being held pressed rearward by a spring 313. The arrangement is such that when the slide bar 30 is moved to the right. said cam 31 engages plate 34 and forces the same forward and thereby opens the ignition circuit and stops the operation ot the engine. plished manually by means of a shaft 37 The same operation can be accoInjournaled in arms 38 on the steering column, said shaft having a handle 39 just below the steering wheel and therefore convenient to the driver of the car,'and a crank arm 40 having a pin and slot connection with the adjacent link 27.

The operation of the handle 39 is performed not only to close the ignition circuit but to eifect the setting of the protector curtain for the wind shield, hereinafter described, and the side windowsof a limousine, as shown by Fig. 1. The curtain protectors used back of the wind shield and at the inner sides of the windows of a limousine,'-are of identical construction so that a description of the one applied to the wind shield will be understood to likewise apply to the side curtains, it being noted that certain small parts illustrated in Figs, 3, 5 and 6, are omitted for purposes of clearness in Fig. 1.

The wind shield illustrated is of a common and well-known type, and secured to the lower rail of the lower member of the wind shield in any suitable manner is a slotted cylindrical casing 41, and journaled in and extending through said casing is ashaft 452 to which the lower edge of a curtain 43 is attached,- the upper edge of the curtain being attached to the lower ends of a pair of straps 4 4. The upper ends of said straps are secured to a spring. roller 45 ournaled in an angle bracket 46, secured to the'frame 11 of the wind shield, and said spring roller is equipped at one or both ends with a ratchet wheel 47 and a pawl 48 to be held in engagement with said ratchet wheel by a spring 49 to guard against unwinding of the curtain from the spring roller in the event an occupant of the car is thrown forward under sudden arrest of the car, the curtain in this case protecting such person from being injured by the wind shield.

When the curtain is in operative or protecting position it is stretched across the wind shield at the inner side of the same as shown in Figs. i e? 5, the straps l4: being wound upon the spz1ng roller. To rewind the curtain upon the shaft 42 from which it is unwound by the spring roller to operative position, one end of shaft 42 may be equipped with a small crank handle 50. it being understood that preliminarily the pawls must be tripped and held from opera! me during the rewinding operation. Normally the curtain is wholly wound upon the shaft- 42 within the cylindrical casing or housing 41, and the straps 44 extend from the casing to the spring roller, as seen in Figl l. llhen the parts are in this normal condition, the tendency of the spring roller is to pull the curtain upward and hence swing the lower member of the wind shield inwardly. 'lo guard against this eventuality, a perforated strap 51" is secured to the lower end of said member of the wind shield and engaged by at turn. button 52 projecting from a slotted lute 53 eecuretito the inetrument hoard, he'elo in the late 52 regieteiring-with a lot. (not shown? in said boerciyeo that the end of the strap 51 ea n'be throedeii thio ighithe i istrnment'hitzmo and be out oi *the Way; The Strap will he provided w th 21' series of perforations to permit of ad ust infant accommodate the lower wind shield member in different poeitions.

" roller and'hohi the CIJItflli'l nornniliy open,

ihotis wound npifiti 'r he'sliai't .n, the r}: 1: edge of the curtain. provided about u d vi ayits length with a short depending strep "54 ti l'illil'ihhln in e. perforated tongue to nga geltlieiroateii h eelget inetrument board, and

thebolt so to l. bole ,LW'lieu the i; it e right thriuigh manual power or otl .w Wise usexpiained, it is Withdrawn tron: an:

gemont with iongues'oh of strip L 1: ii? t this occurs, the spring "1o l 7d rai estheeurteintopI-oteet1ve ;io-- 'ioi1.'- If e1 t" xiii i Ina-y he pro. Wilii'n iii'ltii e niilow of very ,ne to enubie the tirivor'to see directly in lo protecting him from injury s; e n 1g 1 the (i fa' 1105i eide v @ilRG-d so. net 1 verniy, it

\ to, interi een e i tl' e ire simultai 4 t 4 released f iirnutometio ei'osure. Any V ible rneans may be employed to operate each ewline-cl rode", that shown. being n ,heli i piyoteily connee ei J the front'ohd. rod enii at. hi to the :idjzn & thepivotel connections: be-

ininoclote the ares and, lover ei'mnoetosl return the 1':

and to r 9 to horse V k die-spring, y'jiun to n ion oi.

per and noting to return theseiil w'l' the bumper" methane-eel,

n 12, a ietion is si iown iniol'x-ii ig Fin-inter i 1 gohrthe noon being such-that the; '65 thethe To overcome the resistance of the spring thrust rods (one only being shown), showoh the out however, interfering with the opening the opening to accommodate the door movements, Without affecting head which it i-oingages when the door is closed.

Fig. 11 illustrates a modification of the ing .iow they may be connected to a rock elnift e7, and the letter be linked to the de penclingnrm of the usual rock shaft for uctun/ting the brake inechanisnn' This con Extraction dispenses with 1 certain featim-s shmvn in higs; l and 2, and possesses act vantages: over thelatter in the Way of si1np ,ity, strength and ease of attachment,

is the operation and function of the no rious parts has been set; forth inoonnection with the detail description thereof, recenituletion of the operation'in detail is not necessary other than to state that the cam 31 ol .d to slide. bolt '30 by a wingnut 6S ending thr oug'h a slot 69insaidboit,

a manner that thebum'per he); cannot return to norm-2i positionheoiiuse of the objectby h it S.Il-3plBSS@(i, t will be l1) 113OSSl-.

o the ignition circuit until the ice; permit the bumper toJoe readvanc ed, or the com is. withdrawn to permit the ignii'ion butt-1m to he pulled back to normal. position" r i from the above description it will been r m; I have produced an automatic iol ocou pant protecting equipment Y Mobiles, embodying the features Muted. he (iesiruble, and While I have .di ilii and. iiesoribocl' the preferred type m construction it is to be understood that I reserve the right to make s ohchanges in tornn proportioin detail construction and' arm "einent of the parts asfill Within the spirit and scope-of the appended claims.-

loiaim: 1. THe-COmbIIIELtIOD in a=mot0r ca-I, of-an non ere-ting devioe, e protecting-acu-rtain, a spring a sited rollenlie-Xible' ooni ections between the roller-and the curtain, ineans iorholding! the curtziin in. inoperative position,

. lnnnper, and means actuated'by repression of the bumper for operating the ignition air-- (nit breaking and brake-operating devices and releasing the curtain holding --means.

2. The combination-inst motor car, of an ignition circuit breaking device, abrakeop .ing' deviee, api'oteotin'g ciirt Lll1,fl spring l roiler, flexible connections between in rellei Y i-d-thei ourteinyin'eans-forhold- IL-i131 first pushed back from Such; ob-

in circuit breaking device, a brake op bumper, thrust rods for conjoint or inde; pendent rearward movement by the bumper, and means for transmitting power from the thrust rods to operate the ignition circuit breaking and brake operating devices and release the curtain holding means.

The combination in a motor car, of an ignition circuit breaking device, a brake operating device, a protecting curtain; a spring-actuated roller, flexible connections between the roller and the curtain, means for holding the curtain in inoperative position, a bumper, thrust rods for conjoint or independent rearward movement by the bumper, means for transmitting power from the thrust rods to operate the ignition circuit breaking and brake operating devices and release the curtain holding means, nd independent means for restoring each thrust rod and the ignition circuit breaking and brake operating devices to normal position.

4. The combination in a motor car, of an ignition circuit breaking device, a brake operating device, a protecting curtain, a spring-actuated roller, flexible connections between the roller and the curtain, means for holding the curtain in inoperative position, a bumper, thrust rods for conjoint or independent rearward movement by the bumper, means for transmitting power from the thrust rods to operate the ignition circuit breaking and brake operating devices and release the curtain holding means, independent means for restoring each thrust rod and the ignition circuit breaking and brake operating devices to normal position, and means to restore the curtain to normal or inoperative position.

5. The combination in a motor car, of an ignition circuit tweaking device, a brakeop'erating device, at protecting curtain, a spring-actuated roller, flexible connectlous between the roller and the curtain, means for holding the curtain in ino rative pos?-- tion, a bumper, means actuated by repression of the bumper, for operating the ignition circuit breaking and brake operating devices and releasing the curtain holding means. and manually-operable means to operate the means for operating the ignition circuit breaking and brake operating devices and releasing the curtain holding .means.

6; The combination in a motor car, of an ignition circuit breaking device, a brake operating device, a protecting curtain, a

connecting the roller with the curtain, means for holding the curtain in inoperative position, a bumper, and means actuated by repression of the bumper for operating the ignition circuit breaking device and releasing the curtain holding means.

8.-The combination in a motor car, of a brake operating device, a protecting curtain, a spring-actuated roller, straps connecting ,the roller with the curtain, means for holding the curtain in inoperative position, a bumper, and means actuated by repression of the bumper for operating the brake operating device and releasing the curtain holdin; means.

9. The combination in a motor car, of an ignition circuit breaking device, a roller, :1. protecting curtain wound upon said roller, a spring actuated roller, straps connecting the last-named roller with the curtain, means to prevent the spring actuated roller from unwinding the curtain from the firstnamed roller, a bumper, and means actuated by repression of the bumper for operating the ignition circuit breaking device and releasing the spring roller restraining means.

10. The combination in a motor car, of an ignition circuit breaking device, a roller, a

protecting curtain wound upon said roller, a spring actuated roller, straps connecting the last-named roller with the curtain, means to prevent the spring actuated roller from unwinding the curtain from the first-named roller. a bumper, and manually, operable )lltdns for operating the ignition circuit breaking device and releasing the spring roller restraining means.

11. The combination in a motor car, of an ignition circuit hrcakin device, a brake op; erating device, a wind s ield protecting ourtain and side window protecting curtains, rollers for holding the curtains wound toleave the wind shield and Windows exposed, a sprin ctu'ated roller for the wind shield and each windon, sl raps connecting each curtain with the companion spring-actuated roller, means for restraining the spring. actuated rollers from operating their respecfive curtains, and means for operating the ignition circuit breaking and brake operating devices and-releasing the roller restraining means.

'2. The combination in a motor car, of an ignition circuit breaking device, a brake 0p crating device, a wind shield protecting ourspring-actuated roller, flexible connections tain and side window protecting curtains,

between the roller'and the curtain, means for holding the curtain in inoperative position, a bumper, and manually-operable means for operating the ignition circuit breaking and brake operating devices and releasing the curtain holding means.

7. The combination in a motor car, of an ignition circuit breaking device, a protecting curtain, a. spring-actuated roller, straps rollers for holding the curtains Wound to leave the wind shield and windows exposed, a spring-actuated roller for the wind shield and each window, straps connecting each curtain with the companion spring-actuated roller, means for restraining the spring-actuated rollers from operatingtheir res ective curtains, a bumper, means actuate by repression of the bumper for operating the IlZt series of longitudinally-extending and alined izs free edge of the latter'from. the adjacent.

ignition circuit breaking and brake opera'e ing devices and releasing the spring roller restraining means.

13. In a motor car, a series of longitudinally-alined rods slidingly arranged on the car, one of the rods being mounted on a door and interlocked at the free edge of the door with the adjacent end of another of the rods, as regards longitudinal 0r sliding movement but detachable from said other rod as regards movement induced by outward or opening movement of the door and interlocked with said other rod through closure ofthe door, means holding said rods yieldingly in one position of their longitudinal or sliding movement, and bumperactuated means for overcoming the resistance of the said holding means and imparting sliding movement to said rods.

14. Iii-a motor car, the combination of a rods slidingly arranged on the car, one of the rods being mounted on a' door and movable therewith in the opening and closing movement's thereof and detachable at the end of another rod when the door is opened or closed, but movable with said other rod in a longitudinal direction when the door is closed, means for holding the series of rods at one limit of their slidable movement, a series of curtains connected to said rods, bumper-actuated means for imparting-slid ing movement to the rods to break the connection between the same and said curtains, and means to spread the curtains as said connections are broken.

15. In a motor. car, a series of longitudinally alined rods v slidingly arranged on a side of the body of the car, one of said rods being carried by a door and provided with a C-shaped head normally occupying a cavity in the body against the free edge of the door, and the rod on the body adjacent the free edge of the door havin an elliptic head normally fitting in said shaped 'head, means holding said rods yieldingly in one position of adjustment, and bumper actuated means for effecting conjoint endwise movement of said rods.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my si ature.

* 'WILLI AMA, z. 

